OFFICE OF ADMISSIONS AND RECORDS

ADMISSIONS POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

First-Time
Freshman Applicants

First-time freshman applicants are those who have attended no
postsecondary educational institution after leaving high
school. Applicants meeting the following criteria are guaranteed
admission to the Colleges of Arts and Sciences o the College of
Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Other programs that admit
freshmen, such as Architecture, Dental Hygiene, Engineering, and TIM
are more selective and make their own admissions decisions. (Nursing
requires sophomore standing while Business, Education, Medical
Technology, Social Work, Speech Pathology and Audiology require junior
standing.) Applicants admissible to UH Manoa but inadmissible to a
selective program may be accepted into Arts and Sciences' Liberal Arts
and pre-professional programs.

Cumulative GPA Resident
2.8; nonresident 3.2 (it may be necessary to adjust a student's GPA to
delete grade points awarded for deportment or other non-instructional
activities).

Rank Upper 40% of
graduating class

A high rating in one area will not ensure admission, nor will poor
performance in an area exclude applicants if other evidence shows they
may be successful in university level work. Decisions to admit
students who fail to meet the above criteria are made by
Admissions and Records staff on a case-by-case basis after a full
evaluation. At an absolute minimum, an admitted freshman applicant
must meet the academic qualifications established by the NCAA in its
definition of a "partial qualifier," as contained in its 1996-97
Operating Manual.

Transfer
Applicants

Transfer applicants are defined as those who enrolled in any
postsecondary educational activity subsequent to the completion of
high school. Transfer admissions requirements are dependent on the
number of prior college credits earned by an applicant. Acceptable
prior college credits must be earned in courses that are equivalent to
Manoa courses in content and level.

Nonresidents whose GPA fall between 2.0 and 2.5 may be admitted by A&R
on an exceptional basis. However, no applicant whose GPA falls below
2.0 can be admitted without mutual agreement between A&R and the
college/school into which the student seeks admission.

General: The following general guidelines are used by A&R to compute a
transfer applicant's cumulative collegiate GPA for admission. These
guidelines cannot address all the different grading practices that the
admissions staff encounter when reviewing transcripts. In addition,
these policies pertain only to the transfer GPA that is calculated for
purposes of determining general admission to UH-Manoa.

In calculating the transfer admission GPA A&R uses:

All transferable academic courses deemed substantially equivalent
to UHM courses, from all regionally accredited colleges and
universities the applicant has attended, in which the student received
a grade.

All repeated courses (grades for the first and all subsequent
attempts are computed [averaged] into the transfer GPA).

The Admissions and Records Office does not include in the transfer
admission GPA:

Courses taken at an institution that is not fully accredited by
the appropriate U.S. regional accrediting association.

Courses considered below college level.

Vocational and technical courses.

Remedial and developmental courses.

Religion courses which show a confessional bias.

Courses taken out of sequence (backtracked). A lower level course
taken concurrently with or subsequent to a higher level course, for
which it is an explicit or implicit prerequisite, is not counted.

Evaluating
Transfer Credits

General: In general, UH-Manoa accepts credits earned at institutions
fully accredited by U.S. regional accrediting associations, provided
that such credits are substantially equivalent to courses at UHM, and
have been completed with a grade of C (not C-) or better. Courses
completed at University of Hawai'i campuses may transfer with a grade
of D or better. An evaluation of transfer credits will be undertaken
only after a student has been admitted to a program leading to a
degree, and confirmed his or her intention to enroll.

Transfer decisions about courses taken at any other University of
Hawai'i campus are guided by the current University of Hawai'i
Articulation Agreement (E5.209). For additional information, the Web
address is

http://wwwsrv.its.hawaii.edu/ar_services/transfer

Only course credits are accepted in transfer. Grades and grade points
from other institutions do not transfer to UHM. Students may contest a
course transfer evaluation by appeal which is decided by the
appropriate UHM academic department.

Notable Restrictions on Transfer Credit: Although all
qualified courses may be transferred from two-year colleges, UHM
applies no more than 60 credits from non-UH community or junior
colleges toward the credits required for a bachelor's degree. Other
notable restrictions on transfer credit include:

Courses Taken Out of Sequence (backtracking): Credit is not
awarded for lower level courses if they are taken subsequent to or
concurrently with a higher level course for which they are explicit or
implicit prerequisites.

College Level Examination Program (CLEP): Students wishing CLEP
general examination credit must take the test before completing 24
credits of college- level work. Credits awarded for general and
subject examinations do not count toward meeting the 24 credit
requirement for admission as a transfer student nor do they exempt
other applicants from submitting SAT/ACT scores and high school
transcripts.

Correspondence School Credit: No more than 30 credits of
correspondence coursework from regionally accredited U.S. colleges and
universities will be accepted in transfer.

Military Service or Schooling: Coursework taken through military
schools may be considered for credit with the consent of the
appropriate University department. The student's DD-214 or DD-295 form
must be submitted. Credits awarded for military schooling do not count
toward meeting the 24 credit requirement for admission as a transfer
student nor exempt other applicants from submitting SAT/ACT scores and
high school transcripts.

Courses With Non-Traditional Grades: Courses completed with non
traditional grades such as CR (credit), P (pass), S (satisfactory) may
be transferable only if the grade represents a C (not C-) or
better. Generally, courses with non-traditional grades will only be
accepted as elective credit and will not fulfill University, college,
school, or departmental requirements.

Courses Receiving No Credit: Courses not accepted for transfer credit
include, but are not limited to, the following:

Courses From Unaccredited Institutions: Coursework taken at any
institution not fully accredited by a regional U.S. accrediting
association is not transferable. After completing a minimum of 30
credits at UHM with a GPA of 2.0 or better, a student may be granted
credit for coursework completed at unaccredited institutions which
were candidates for accreditation at the time of the student's
attendance there. No more than 0 credits from such institutions may be
applied to degree requirements at UHM.

Courses Below College Level: At University of Hawai'i campuses
such courses are generally numbered below 100.

Developmental or Remedial Courses.

Life Experience: UHM does not award credits for life
experience. By individual arrangement, enrolled students may arrange
for credit by examination.

Repeated or Duplicate Courses: Transfer credit is generally not
awarded for courses that duplicate material for which academic credit
has already been given. Credit will not be awarded for a repeated
course in which a passing grade was previously earned, nor for more
than one version of a cross-listed course.

Courses That Provide Instruction in a Particular Religious
Doctrine.

Vocational or Technical Courses.

Mathematics Courses Considered Below College Level: Such
courses include, but are not limited to: basic math, business math,
college algebra and trigonometry.

Post-Baccalaureate Unclassified (PBU)
Applicants

Post-baccalaureate unclassified students are those who have earned a
recognized bachelor's degree and wish to enroll for coursework as
unclassified students. (The Graduate Division has reserved the term
"graduate" student for those formally admitted to graduate fields of
study.)

PBU applicants must submit an original transcript from the institution
that awarded them their baccalaureate degree. The institution must be
a regionally accredited U.S. college or university. If the institution
is located outside the U.S., it must be an institution recognized by
UHM and its degree must be equivalent to the U.S. bachelor's degree
(i.e., a four-year college degree undertaken after completion of 12
years of primary/secondary education).

The TOEFL test may be required if the degree was earned in a country
where the national language is not English, or the student's native
language is not English.

International students on temporary visas are generally ineligible for
unclassified admission.

Second-Degree
Applicants

Second degree applicants have already received a recognized bachelor's
degree and wish to pursue a second bachelor's degree at Manoa. These
applicants are generally treated like transfer applicants. They must
have achieved a cumulative 2.0 GPA (residents) or 2.5 GPA
(nonresidents) in their first baccalaureate degree program. Second
bachelor's degree students ace admitted by Manoa schools and
colleges. Business does not admit any second-degree students; anc
other colleges, such as Arts and Sciences, consider them only on a
case-by-case basis.

Returning
Applicants

Returning applicants are students who were enrolled at UHM, left
voluntarily or involuntarily, and wish to re-enroll without having
attended another institution during the interim. Students who left in
good standing or who were placed on academic probation or academic
suspension are usually eligible to return to the programs they
left. This is not the case, however, with more selective programs,
i.e., Architecture, Business, Dental Hygiene, Education, SHAPS,
Medical Technology, Nursing, SOEST, Social Work, Speech Pathology and
Audiology, TIM. Students who were academically dismissed may return
only under exceptional circumstances and must have the approval of
their college/school to be readmitted.

CAPP Admissions Subcommittee working arrangement with Admissions and
Records

University of Hawaii at Manoa undergraduate admissions
policies and procedures fall under the joint purview of the Faculty
Senate and the Admissions and Records Office. As a public research
university, Manoa's undergraduate admissions process must be fair and
open and reflect its institutional mission.

The Manoa Faculty Senate's Committee on Academic Policy and Planning
has created a standing Subcommittee on Admissions to provide faculty
oversight for admissions policies and practices and related
matters. One of its duties will be to serve as a link between the
Faculty Senate and the undergraduate admissions office. The
Subcommittee shall also serve as a liaison between the Admissions and
Records Office and other Faculty Senate committees such as the
Committee on Athletics.

The Subcommittee shall meet regularly with representatives of the
admissions office to review existing policies and practices, consider
proposed changes, and address outstanding issues and concerns. As
appropriate, the subcommittee shall prepare recommendations for action
by the Manoa Faculty Senate. In particular, all changes to admissions
policies shall be forwarded via CAPP and the SEC to the Manoa Faculty
Senate for review and action.

In addition to its role as liaison to Admissions and Records, the
duties of the Subcommittee on Admissions include consideration of any
other admissions related matter.